BENGALURU: Deputy chief minister
CN Ashwath Narayan
and education minister
S Suresh Kumar
were taken to task on Monday in the
legislative council
Soon after the House convened,
council chairman Prathap Chandra Shetty
took objection to Suresh Kumar’s tweet on September 27, which targeted him for abruptly adjourning the House sine die when the controversial
farm bills
and
labour reforms
were to be tabled.
“Having allowed the legislative council to debate till 12.40 am in the morning, the decision to adjourn the house just when the bills were to be tabled for the house approval is bizarre. I am leaving home disappointed. An umpire should never be like this,” Kumar had tweeted.
On Monday, Shetty said he had dispatched a letter to Kumar expressing his concern over raising questions over the legislative council chairman’s decision. However,
BJP legislators objected to the letter and said it was setting highly dangerous precedents. The
Congress meanwhile defended the chair. “I kept quiet in this regard but am forced to note that the minister had hurt the dignity of the chair and not the individual,” said Shetty.
Meanwhile, Ashwath Narayan faced MLCs’ wrath when he announced that former chief secretary SV Ranganath was heading the committee to implement the National Education Policy (NEP). BJP MLC AH Vishwanath said: “Each time the Prime Minister speaks of the NEP, he speaks of implementing it with people of integrity and morality. Ranganath is heading a company — Café Coffee Day — which is under the scanner for financial fraud. Do we not have anyone else to head NEP implementation?” asked Vishwanath, backed by Congress legislator BK Hariprasad.
Narayan defended Ranganath and said the former CS has a huge contribution to the state as a bureaucrat and impeccable integrity and morality. “It’s unacceptable to have aspersions cast on the former bureaucrat,” he said.